Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player, has gone missing

 

 

On Thursday (November 18), Chinese official media released an e-mail reportedly from Ms Peng Shuai, adding to the mystery surrounding her whereabouts.

Ms Peng claimed on the Twitter-like Weibo on November 2 that she had been “forced” into sex during a long-term on-again, off-again romance with former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, but the post was quickly removed.

Ms Peng, 35, has not been seen since, but state media has now posted a screenshot of what it claims is an e-mail from her on Twitter, in which she allegedly backtracks on the charges and says she is “resting at home and everything is fine.”

Ms Peng has been missing since making the Weibo post.

Ms Peng’s letter was shared on the Chinese official broadcaster CGTN’s Twitter account on Thursday.

“I am not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve just been resting at home and everything is fine,” she said, adding that her alleged sexual assault charges were “not real.”

However, her fans were skeptical of her efforts to disprove her assertions of an affair with the former Communist Party boss. The odd phrasing and a cursor visible in the screenshot instantly raised suspicions.